Гама Сингх: Канадтық күресшінің тарихы

Canadian professional and amateur wrestler
the Indian wrestler of the early 20th century

His father emigrated to Canada from Punjab, India, with his family joining him in 1963. Sahota went to school in Merritt, British Columbia and excelled in amateur wrestling. Singh would first find success in the tag team ranks, winning Stampede's Tag Titles on two occasions, before going on to feud with the Dynamite Kid, taking the Mid Heavyweight title from him in a ladder match. His most famous championship run, however, would be with Stampede Wrestling's British Commonwealth Mid Heavyweight Championship, which he would win six times in the 1980s; with title victories over future renowned stars such as Davey Boy Smith, Owen Hart and Chris Benoit. Also in the 1980s Gama was a founding member and leader of the hated Karachi Vice stable, which also included Makhan Singh, Steve DiSalvo, Vokhan Singh, Kerry Brown, Rhonda Singh, Ron Starr and managers JR Foley and Abu Wizal. A much reviled play on the popular 80s TV series Miami Vice and the city of Karachi in Pakistan; the Karachi Vice would dominate Stampede Wrestling in the late 1980s, becoming a cult sensation within Calgary. In an era when wrestling was treated as a real sport rather than spectacle, Gama Singh incensed much hatred as a wrestling villain in Calgary, receiving racist threats and often encountered people swearing at him on the street. Stampede wrestling would be purchased by Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1984, but returned under Bruce Hart running with Gama as one of the top attractions until 1990.

Aside from Stampede Wrestling, and his later WWF tours, Gama Singh spent much of the late 1970s in Vancouver's All Star Wrestling. He mostly competed in Tag Team bouts with partners such as Guy Mitchell and Buck Zumhofe; culminating in a Tag Title win with partner Igor Volkoff.

Apart from competing in the odd NWA affiliated promotion in the United States; Singh also took part in several tours of NJPW in Japan in the late 1970s, often teaming with Tiger Jeet Singh, and taking on greats such as Tatsumi Fujinami, Seiji Sakaguchi and Riki Choshu. At various times in his career, Gama worked for WWC and various other promotions in the Caribbean as well; once winning the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship from Ciclon Negro in Puerto Rico in 1980. He would also prove very popular in South Africa, engaging in tours which included bouts against his friend Bad News Allen; and also competed for WPW in Germany in the mid 1990s, teaming with longtime associate 'Champagne' Gerry Morrow.

In the early eighties, Vince McMahon, Jr. widely expanded the WWE and was looking for an Indian wrestler to work on various tours in the Middle East. Gama Singh began working for Jack Tunney in Toronto and then worked several overseas tours for the WWF in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Australia and Hawaii.

Singh signed a deal with Impact Wrestling in January 2018 as a manager of the Desi Hit Squad with Rohit Raju, Gursinder Singh, Mahabali Shera and his son Raj Singh, but when COVID 19 pandemic travel restrictions began in 2020, he remained in Canada, and did not return to Impact once it resumed tapings in Nashville, quietly leaving the company. His brother Akam would also become a professional wrestler, as would his son, Raj Singh. His nephew Yuvraj Singh Dhesi, would go on to the WWE, as Jinder Mahal and win the WWE Championship in 2017.